Explorer of Light: Klara Yoon

Credit: Klara Yoon author of Klara's Street photo blog.

“Life is like a good black and white photograph, there’s black, there’s white, and lots of shades in between.”—Karl Heiner

As I dig deeper and deeper into the magical world of photography, I begin to detect refreshing and inspiring discoveries. One of them is the stunning work of Klara Yoon who authors a photo blog called, Klara’s Street. Ms. Yoon lives in Berlin, but has made photographic excursions in several European sites such as Frankfurt, Hamburg, Austria, Latvia and Riga. Her main focus is the street captured in black and white and all the zillion shades in between.

She introduces herself in her blog this way:

“Hello, I’m Klara, I live in Berlin, I love shooting the streets and I carry a camera with me all the time. After having neglected film for a long time, I’ve recently fallen in love with film and the smell of fixer again.

I love to capture people and their interactions and I do not want to hurt anybody by taking their picture. I have great respect for my subjects, still, if you recognize yourself in one of my photos and you don’t want it to be published, let me know and I will take it down. If you recognize yourself and you do like what you see, let me know I will send you a digital file or a print.”

The following paragraph pretty much summarizes her work:

“I really believe that photography is about light, shapes, colors and feelings. But more than that, it’s about words. Like an unspoken story about beauty, confusion, hate and love, the photographer has to tell his or her feelings with no one being around, and to choose a way to give to the people a piece of the world reflected in his or her eyes.”

In her blog she wrote; “I discovered that I loved harsh contrast and shooting around midday.” This a characteristic of her photographic style which I have learned to appreciate and cherish. Her style reminds me of the nanny turned street photographer—Vivian Maier. In fact, Ms. Yoon mentions her name in her blog.

I have been blown away by her barrage of razor-sharp black and white pictures and her minimalistic narrative. A blog post which I particularly love is called, The Year in Street Photography posted on December 26, 2011. This is how she describes this specific post:

“2011 was the year I carried my camera almost everywhere, the year the camera became an extension of my right arm, the year I found myself on the streets over and over again, the year the streets accompanied me through my highs and lows. This post is not a personal best-of, but rather a selection of how I saw and felt about street photography in 2011.”

Photography is the art of drawing with light, and certainly Klara Yoon is a magnificent explorer of light. I encourage you to invest quality time in appreciating her art by clicking this link. You will thank me forever. Good Day.